Breadcrumbs
by angellwings
Summary: Cassandra sequestered herself in a far corner of The Library. The Annex felt too small now. When she wanted to get lost and be alone she ventured out into the remote corners of the main Library. Sometimes she read, sometimes she worked out equations in her notebook, and sometimes…


**A/N:** Yet another fic for Librarians Fanfic Week! This one started with the simple idea of Cassandra telling someone about being able to use magic. They were two episodes that showcased it (other than Loom, I'm not counting the AU). And I really wanted at least one person on the team to be in the know about it. Which is where this came form!

Happy reading!

angellwings

* * *

Breadcrumbs

by angellwings

* * *

Cassandra sequestered herself in a far corner of The Library. The Annex felt too small now. When she wanted to get lost and be alone she ventured out into the remote corners of the main Library. Sometimes she read, sometimes she worked out equations in her notebook, and sometimes…

She paused in her thoughts and snapped her fingers. Upon finishing the snap a flicker of blue flame sat on top of the tip of her thumb. She studied it for a moment and then transferred it to the next finger and the next until she was rotating her wrist in a slow circle with the little flame orbiting around her hand. She stopped moving her hand and suspended the flame over her palm.

It wasn't fire. She knew it was magic but it didn't seem very useful. It just floated and sparkled. Not that she minded, really. It was pretty and it made her feel…happy. And…warm.

"Cassandra!"

She gasped and snapped her hand shut around the flame, smothering it. Speaking of feeling warm, she thought, as Stone rounded the corner of the stacks looking worried.

"There you are," he said in a relieved tone.

"Here I am," she repeated. "Just exploring."

"Well, next time leave a note or some breadcrumbs or something," he said with a huff.

Her eyebrows rose and she smirked at him. "You found me easily enough."

He looked at her in disbelief. "You think that was easy?"

She chuckled at his expression. "Jacob Stone, were you worried about me?"

He gave her a small smile and nodded his head slightly. "You've just been disappearing a lot lately, Cass. I thought maybe you were avoiding just me but then Ezekiel said he hadn't seen much of you either so—yeah, I got worried."

Worried or suspicious? She wondered to herself. It was no secret he didn't trust her. Although, this time, she was actually hiding something from him.

"Anything wrong?" Jake asked as he took several steps closer to her.

She took a step back and then began to walk in a semi-circle around him. "Not wrong per say," she admitted nervously. "Just, um, weird, is all. You know, the usual."

His brow furrowed and a little crease appeared on his forehead. She felt a swell of relief at that. He was worried. Definitely worried. _Not_ suspicious.

"Weird _how_?" He asked.

"Well, remember Morgan le Fay?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hard to forget," he said with a grumble.

She took a deep nervous breath before she continued. "Remember the Farraday Cage? With the table legs and the pentagram and the phones with the focusing spell?"

"Yeah, I remember," he said dryly as if he were waiting for her point.

"I tossed the phone before I took my spot," she stated as she watched his reaction anxiously.

His eyes narrowed in confusion. "If you tossed the phone then how did you even manage to…" his sentence trailed off and he gave her a look of realization. "Cassandra, can you…can you _use_ magic?"

She gnawed on her thumbnail nervously for a moment before she answered him. "Here's something funny…"

"Yeah, I'm sure it's hilarious," he said dryly.

"The Libras Fabula case that ended with Baird as a Ninja Princess, you as a Robot Huntsman, and me as Merlin in disguise," she paused and started to pace. "Well…" She stopped in front of Jacob and opened her hand palm up as the blue flame materialized again and drifted up from her hand. "Some of Merlin's magic _might_ have stuck around," she told him sheepishly. "Maybe."

"What is that?" He asked as he watched her make it dance around her hand.

"Honestly, I have no idea," she said with a nervous gulp as she closed her hand around the flame again. "That's all it does. It's not very useful so far."

"Have you told anyone about this?" He asked curiously.

She shook her head. "Just you."

He blinked at her for a long moment and then smiled slowly. "Just me?"

"Baird would freak out, Jenkins would lecture me, and Jones would try to convince me to use it for nefarious purposes. I can trust you to help me figure it out," she said logically with a shy smile. "You're good at that."

"At what?" He asked.

"Helping me make sense of things," she admitted.

They stared at each other with small smiles for a long moment before Jake cleared his throat and scratched back of his neck nervously. "Magic ain't exactly my expertise, you know. I—I wouldn't know where to start."

"Do you think if I figured out how to squirrel away enough of it I could…you know, save myself?" She asked thoughtfully as she bit her bottom lip. "Raw magic saved Flynn, after all. I mean, it could potentially save me too, right?"

"I guess so," he said with a furrowed brow. "But Jenkins is always tellin' us magic has a cost and I think this is one of those times where we'd need to know the cost in advance, Cass."

"How much worse can it be then what I'm already living through, Jacob? Really?" She asked with a hopeless sigh.

"Raw magic saving Flynn cost him a friend," Jacob reminded her gently. "I think it's possible the cost could be too much."

She leaned against one of the stacks and then reluctantly nodded her head in agreement. "You're right. I know you're right. And I'd never-if it ever cost me any of you guys I'd never be able to live with myself."

"I don't know," he said softly. "I might be okay with it if it meant you could actually live your life. It's not like I've taken full advantage of the one I've got anyway."

Cassandra gasped and then glared at him. "Never say that again."

"Cass—"

"No, Jacob, the idea of you giving up your life for mine is not an option. It's never an option. Okay?" She asked him with a stern expression.

He smiled sadly at her and then leaned against the stacks next to her. "Okay."

"You promise?" She asked warily.

"I promise," He said with a sigh.

"Besides, you don't even trust me," she said with a furrowed brow. "Why would you give up anything for me?"

"Are you kidding me?" He asked her disbelief. "You still think that I don't—Cassandra, with everything we've been through since that first case I thought—" He stopped his own sentence and looked down at the ground in frustration before he looked back up at her and met her eyes. "I wouldn't have followed you on that case to Lima if I didn't trust you, darlin'. Nor would I have taken your lead at the STEM fair or…Collins Falls."

"You don't have to—"

"No, I think it's passed time I tell you this. You had your reasons for what you did and I didn't get that at first. I still don't agree with what you did but after everything else we've done I understand _why_ you did it," he told her. "You've been alone most of your life, Cass. You care about people but you don't rely on them for much. Why would you have trusted us, people you'd just met, to help you? You had no reason to. Not really. They offered you a choice where you'd previously had none. I can't say I wouldn't have made the same one. I mean I could say it, but I have no way of knowing if it's actually the truth. I needed to know more about you to really understand that," he said with a sigh. "I could've tried harder."

She stared at him in disbelief for a long moment. Had he really just said that to her? She'd hoped he'd eventually say something like that to her for far too long now. She never thought it would actually happen. She launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. She'd never hugged him before but after those beautiful words there was no other way to express how she felt. He tensed for a moment before she felt him relax and return the embrace. His arms went around her and he rubbed a soothing hand across her back. Was it strange for her to think that they fit really well together? Was that a weird thing for her to notice? Because she couldn't help noticing how comfortable this hug truly felt. It was like she'd done this a million times.

"Thank you," she said in a voice that was just barely above a whisper.

"Don't thank me," he told her. Neither of them stepped out of the hug as he continued. "I told you. I could've tried harder."

"I'm just grateful you tried at all," she told him honestly. "I wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't."

"And I think you're both idiots," an accented voice said from above them.

Jake and Cassandra jumped apart and looked up to find Jones sitting on top of the stack they were leaning against. Cassandra blushed and looked down at the ground sheepishly. Jake glared at the younger man.

"What the hell are you doing up there, Jones?" Jake asked with a sneer.

"Just looking for our fair Cassandra," he said with a chuckle. "Looks like you found her first, though. Good work, Stone."

"When you get down from there," Stone said with a glare. "I'm gonna kill you."

"You'd have to catch me first, which I think we all know you won't be able to do," Ezekiel said with a smirk. "Good luck to you though, mate. Really. I look forward to the chase."

Cassandra suppressed a grin and gave him a tired glance. "How much did you hear, Ezekiel?"

"Just the bit where you kept magic from Merlin," he said with a smirk. "And everything else after that."

"So all of it?" She asked him with a quirked brow.

"Pretty much," he said with a wink and a shrug. "It was better than a soap opera, honestly. Top notch entertainment."

"Would anybody really miss him if I killed him?" Jake asked Cassandra before he muttered something else under his breath.

Cassandra chuckled at him and shook her head. These boys were ridiculous. But they were hers now and she'd gladly take a day of them bickering than face another day without it. It meant she wasn't alone. Not anymore.


End file.
